Rachel received a B.A in Creative Writing and Contemporary Literature from Columbia University. She worked as a fiction editor at Henry Holt and Company, where she pursued her fascination with the stories we tell ourselves. After five years in publishing, she pivoted to a role in marketing for Cisco Systems, where she oversaw her team’s profit and loss statements, managed a team of 30, and spearheaded inter-departmental initiatives targeting the business decision-maker with the company’s 23 other marketing groups. When she became a parent, she volunteered in the fundraising groups for three different schools over nine years, served as the New Parent Welcome Ambassador at two schools over eight years, and currently assumes responsibility for Cushing’s Island Events and Community Chair on the island’s Executive Committee. Throughout her life, she has worked with vulnerable populations and served as a care-partner for close family members, pursuits that led her to the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. There, she completed the Foundations in Contemplative Care Training  program serving the patients and staff at The Brooklyn Hospital Center, and she has completed her second year as a Chaplain Intern through the Zen Center's Clinical Pastoral Education program. A Formal Zen Student of Sensei Chodo Campbell, Rachel has found the teaching and work at the NYZC inspirational and transformative. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Josh, her children, Lucinda and Becket, and her little dog, too.